But how did these Texas letters get from home to the boys in the field?

One way was to send them to E. H. Cushing at the Houston Telegraph who both maintained a pony express type service to the troops and had correspondents in the field who handled this task. One of the rarest Confederate era stamps is the one put on the back of envelopes sent to E.H. to fund the expense of this forwarding service.

E.H. also was responsible for passing information on Union troop movements and other information on to Confederate troops. There was an effort to seek him out after the un- pleasantries by the Union appointed Governor Davis after the war with the goal of hanging him as traitor as he was native to Vermont. Fortunately for my wife’s family and the further literacy of Texas this was not accomplished. His family Vermont did disown him as a Southern Democrat.